Flotsom and Feathers
by MotherCHOWGoddess
Summary: This is a collection of fragments either rescued, recovered or recreated from my hard drive crash in 2015. It will be mostly Yu-Gi-Oh!, but there may be cross-overs. Thank you for your patience.


This particular piece is set post-Ceremonial Duel, mostly dub characterizations, but I do make reference to events from the manga in regards to Bakura. This is NOT a part of my "Weight of a Feather" series, tho' I do use some of the same background for Ryou that I created for those stories. Some discussion of religion.

Nothing nasty happens yet... might later.

"Chiyogami"

"I didn't realize you were Christian, Bakura."

The white-haired youth blinked up at the speaker. "Well, I don't rightly know that I am, Tristan." As the rest of his friends continued to stare at the half-British boy, he gave an embarrassed laugh, tucking one arm behind his head heedless of the still wet dye on his hand and accidentally adding a punkish streak of green to his 'do'.

When Bakura had invited the others to his apartment after school that Saturday for what he called an 'egg-dipping party' none of them had been quite sure what to expect, although Joey had made a crude suggestion that earned him an ear-boxing from Teá and frowns from both Tristan and Yugi. Bakura had welcomed them cheerfully enough, and ushered them not into his gaming room as anticipated but to the kitchen where they were greeted by a grinning Mokuba and counters lined with egg cartons.

''We're making Easter Eggs,'' the younger Kaiba brother had announced gleefully, and had put them all to work with such energy and authority that Tristan couldn't help wondering just who had actually hatched this not-so-little project - Mokuba, or his still too-introverted friend. So Tristan obediently poked holes in the ends of eggs with a yarn needle and the two shortest members of the group giggled helplessly at the rude noises Joey produced in blowing the yolks and whites out of their shells. While Teá rinsed the shells out and set them in a rack to drain, Bakura boiled water and whole eggs and selected colors and decals with which to decorate the dry oviods.

"Now that's a disgustin'-lookin' mess," Joey had declared, looking at the bowl of mixed egg-innards. "Hey, egg-blowin's hard an' hungry-making work, Bakura; got anythin' ta eat around here?"

"Joey!"

Their purported host had merely smiled. "Actually, Joey, if you can be patient for a little while, I do have a lovely recipe for an egg and cheese casserole that you might enjoy. It's sort of traditional in my family…"

Which was when Tristan blurted out his not-quite-a-question.

"What I mean is, Mum had both Amané and I baptized and we attended when we were in England, but I think that was mostly to please Grandmother. Neither Mum nor Dad ever made a fuss about it otherwise," Bakura explained, bringing his hand back down and unconsciously brushing fingers across the center of his chest - an action which Yugi unthinkingly mirrored. "And you have to admit, it's rather difficult to maintain a belief in monotheism what with everything we've been through during the past year. In fact," he continued thoughtfully, "I rather suspect I might be more of a Taoist than anything at the moment."

Both of the former Millennium Item holders were still getting used to the absence of heavy golden pendants, not to mention the ancient spirits that those Items had housed. Not that anyone in the party (except possibly Bakura, although he'd never admit it aloud) missed the Spirit of the Ring, but the departure of the Other Yugi (aka Pharaoh Atemu) into the Egyptian Afterlife following the Ceremonial Duel had left a large hole in their lives. Even Seto Kaiba had been somewhat affected; his usual snideness seemed oddly subdued lately and his customary taunt-fest with Joey at school had lost a bit of its bite. Tristan wouldn't go so far as to called the other boy's attitude 'friendly', more like 'less hostile'; but whatever it was, it allowed them the pleasure of Mokuba's company on a more frequent basis. Which was good, because it was hard for even Bakura to be mopey with the energetic 12 year-old around.

"Um, Bakura? When you say your family, do you mean…?"

"Oh, my mother's family, of course," the youth answered Teá cheerfully, but Tristan noticed that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "They were very much into traditional Anglican observances and such. Here, let me take that, Joey," reaching for and taking the bowl, "Mokuba, would you be so good as to take over this?" gesturing at the blown and dried eggs and the dye pots, "Oh, leave that batch, Teá; I'll show you what I have in mind as soon as I have the casserole in the oven…."

'Oops', said Teá's expression as she realized that her attempt to take Bakura's and Yugi's minds off a painful subject (ie. Egypt) had backfired in their white-haired friend's case. Tristan met her eyes and shrugged helplessly. Bakura didn't talk much about his family; they knew that Tadeo Bakura was an Egyptologist as well as Director of the Domino Cultural Museum - in fact he had been responsible for both finding and giving the Millennium 'Ring of Wisdom' to his son, and bringing the Ishtar's Egyptian tablet display to Domino - and that his British mother had died some years ago. It had been Teá who had discovered that Bakura had also lost a younger sister when she'd accidentally found an Oban letter he'd written and forgotten to burn. Tristan suspected that Bakura was so tolerant of the younger Kaiba's antics because on some level he saw Mokuba as a surrogate sibling. That, or displaced guilt over what the Spirit of the Ring had tried to do to the boy at Duelist Kingdom.

And speaking of whom, Mokuba's face bore a mildly troubled expression as well, as he watched his older friend bustle about the kitchen assembling his casserole.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," the dark-haired younger boy mumbled. He jumped slightly when Bakura paused and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Mokuba, I really am glad you asked me to help with your school project," he said earnestly. "It's true that I miss Mum and 'Mannie' especially sharp around the holidays, because of all the things we used to do together to celebrate. But you see, I have some very happy memories of those times, and now -" Bakura glanced around the room smiling, and this time it was a real smile -"I can share those memories and make new ones with all of you."

"Hear, hear," Tristan agreed quietly, and the others nodded affirmatively. The white-haired youth blushed and ducked his head slightly at the unexpected show of support. A few minutes later, after Bakura set the oven timer for half an hour and dug some rice crackers out of a cupboard as a stop-gap for Joey's hunger pangs, the group relocated to the afore-mentioned gaming room. Joey picked up a couple of sheets of gaily-patterned paper and fanned them about.

"So what's next, origami?" he asked. "You gonna show us how ta make paper cranes or sumpthin', Mok' -ow!" Teá looked around innocently and surreptitiously slipped a slender notepad back into her book bag.

"Not exactly. More like paper eggs."

"Hey, I remember doing this in grade school," Yugi blurted out excitedly. "Remember, Teá? You cut the paper into strips and then glue it to the eggshell. Kind of like paper maché, except you use chiya - chiyaha-"

Mokuba grinned. "Chiyogami paper," he supplied helpfully. "And they're actually called 'washi' eggs. Thanks, Ryou," as the other boy placed the cartons of pre-blown and dried egg shells rescued from Teá earlier on the work table in front of him, along with a handful of watercolor paintbrushes, several pairs of small scissors and a wide-mouthed jar of craft glue.

"So how did 'washi' eggs turn into Easter eggs?" Joey wanted to know as he slopped glue on a carefully trimmed square of the brightly colored paper.

"That's a very good question, Joey," replied Bakura, "especially since eggs aren't exactly a Christian symbol, either."

"Huh?"

"Oh, Ryou, let me!" demanded Mokuba. "It's my project, and it'll help me remember for when I have to write the report." The other smiled and withdrew to check on his casserole, leaving his younger friend to pontificate on ancient fertility symbols and the tendency of early Christian missionaries to adapt local practices to further their own purposes and make it easier for new inductees to swallow unfamiliar and sometimes unwelcome doctrine. Tristan listened for a few minutes with half an ear as he cut paper, then excused himself as being in need of the washroom.

(TBC)

 **Author's Note:** 'Washi' is the fine hand-made paper of Japan. When printed with colorful designs, it becomes 'chiyogami' - the decorative paper that has been used to create dolls, boxes and other delightful and useful things since the 17th century. - taken from an on-line craft supplies catalogue regarding different techniques for creating unusual Easter eggs.


End file.
